This disclosure relates generally to surgical navigation systems, and more particularly to a system for integrating radiolucent tracking sensors in a medical table.
Surgical navigation systems track the precise position and orientation of surgical instruments, implants or other medical devices in relation to multidimensional images of a patient's anatomy. Additionally, surgical navigation systems use visualization tools to provide the surgeon with co-registered views of these surgical instruments, implants or other medical devices with the patient's anatomy.
The multidimensional images may be generated either prior to (pre-operative) or during (intraoperative) the surgical procedure. For example, any suitable medical imaging technique, such as X-ray, computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance (MR), positron emission tomography (PET), ultrasound, or any other suitable imaging technique, as well as any combinations thereof may be utilized. After registering the multidimensional images to the position and orientation of the patient, or to the position and orientation of an anatomical feature or region of interest, the combination of the multidimensional images with graphical representations of the navigated surgical instruments, implants or other medical devices provides position and orientation information that allows a medical practitioner to manipulate the surgical instruments, implants or other medical devices to desired positions and orientations.
Current surgical navigation systems that include position and orientation sensors, or sensing sub-systems based on electromagnetic (EM), radio frequency (RF), optical (line-of-sight), and/or mechanical technology.
Surgical navigation using these various technologies are used today with limited acceptance in various clinical applications where an x-ray compatible medical table is used. The navigation area is determined by the proximity of the navigation sensors relative to the position of the patient, medical devices and imaging apparatus. A major reason for the limited acceptance of surgical navigation during medical procedures is related to changes required in the normal surgical workflow that complicates the set-up, execution and turn-around time in the operating room. Most navigation enabled medical devices and environments also add mechanical and visual obstructions within the surgical region of interest and the imaging field of view.
Sensors of known navigation systems are not radiolucent, and if left in the imaging field of view will cause unwanted x-ray image artifacts. This is true with radiographic imaging, but it is of greater concern with intraoperative fluoroscopic 2D and 3D imaging. Based on common constraints across various navigation clinical applications, where intraoperative x-ray imaging is used, the most important region of interest for the navigation system is shared with the most important region of interest for the imaging system. Obvious preferred locations for sensors are not only in the imaging region of interest, but include the area above, below and even within the medical table itself.
EM and RF based navigation sensors have advantages over optical sensors in an intraoperative imaging environment (range, accuracy, non line-of-site), however, the composition of the medical table itself (carbon fiber) can introduce magnetic field distortions that can limit the use of these sensor technologies in some clinical applications.
Previous competitive surgical navigation system designs are stand alone systems that do not attempt to integrate non-radiolucent navigation sensors into the imaging environment. If placed in the x-ray image field of view, the non-radiolucent sensors create distracting image artifacts.
Therefore, there is a need for a surgical navigation system that integrates radiolucent sensors into the medical table environment for simplifying surgical workflow, eliminating distortion, and eliminating image artifacts.